This month is a windfall of book and storytelling events, including the Oregon Books Awards, Smallpressapalooza, and Everybody Reads with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Live Wire!Live Wire, Portland’s own nationally syndicated radio variety show, celebrates 10 years on air this month with a stellar lineup and three live shows (Read our feature about how Live Wire is planning to take over the world):Mar 1, Alberta Rose TheaterCome see award-winning Marvel comic book writer Matt Fraction, author-musicians Willy Vlautin and Wesly Stace, co-founder of Throwing Muses and the CASH Music project Kristin Hersh, director of the Carter family documentary, The Winding Stream, Beth Harrington, and musical guest Albatross, a new Portland band featuring Ryan Sollee (of Builders and Butchers).Mar 15, Alberta Rose TheaterComedic renaissance man Fred Armisen takes the stage along with award-winning author Sherman Alexie, socio-political comedian,W. Kamau Bell, and musical guests the gypsy folk band Run On Sentences.Mar 29, Alberta Rose TheaterJoin former football player turned author of Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies, Chris Kluwe; actress, author, and fomer host of TBS show Dinner and A Movie, Annabelle Gurwich; and Seattle–based rock band Cumulus.

Hip Mama and Rad Dad Re–launch PartyMar 2, Reading FrenzyJoin Tomas Moniz and Ariel Gore in the re–launch of their alternative parenting publications. Hip Mama is re–launching with a 20th anniversary issue championing single, urban, and feminist mothers with Gore back at the helm. Winner of Utne’s Independent Media Award and edited by Moniz, Rad Dad touches on issues of fatherhood often overlooked like equality in parenting, the challenges faced by gay and transgender fathers, and the emotions of sperm donation.

End of Eve by Ariel GoreMar 3, Powell’s City of Books Join Ariel Gore for the launch of her newest book, End of Eve. Having made a name for herself writing about motherhood (see Hip Mama), Gore explores the other side in her poignant memoir about relocating to Santa Fe to care for her difficult mother as she battles cancer.

Loggernaut Reading Series: StretchMar 5, Ristretto RoastersJustin Hocking (author of The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld and director of the Independent Publishing Resource Center), poet Julie Joosten (author of Light Light), and Kelly Luce (author of Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail) read in another installment of prose and poetry themed readings.

The Enchanted by Rene DenfeldMar 5, Powell’s City of Books Released after a six-publisher bidding war, Portland writer Rene Denfeld’s debut novel, The Enchanted, delves into the life of a death-row prisoner who perceives magic all around him in his solitary cell. The author of three nonfictions books, Denfeld works by day as a dealth-penalty investigator, seeking to uncover the “why” of unspeakable crimes to save convicts from walking the final mile. The Enchanted channels this real-world setting into an unflinching, magical-realist tale of the beauty that still manages to persist even in the darkest places. Read our profile of Denfeld in our Spring Arts Preview.

Entertainment for People: New Shit ShowMar 10, DisjectaThe raucous, indie variety show is back with a New Shit Show for 2014featuring never before seen work by a recurrent group of performers the second Monday of every month. The lineup? Some of Portland’s most dashing performers: McSweeney’s author and filmmaker Arthur Bradford, singer/songwriter Laura Gibson, comedian Amy Miller, Moth StorySLAM host Andrew Dickman, poet Mindy Nettifee, writer Heather Larimer, and McSweeney’s/Hobart contributor and creator of Entertainment for People, B. Frayn Masters.

Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter StarkMar 10, Powell’s City of BooksWhen millionaire John Astor sent out two expeditions to explore Astoria in 1810, he envisioned the birth of a global trade empire based at the mouth of the Columbia that would rival the East Coast. Thomas Jefferson shared in these dreams, imagining a separate democracy on this new West Coast frontier. But Peter Stark reveals what complicated these grandiose visions when the travelers themselves faced harrowing conditions and fought for survival in this true adventure tale.

Willy Vlautin and Peter Brown HoffmeisterMar 18, Broadway BooksWatch as Willy Vlautin and Peter Brown Hoffmeister join forces and read entertaining stories from their new all-American work. Vlautin, the lead singer in alt-country band Richmond Fontaine, releases his fourth book, The Free, in which a young runaway transforms the lives of three down-and-out souls, and Hoffmeister returns to fiction to release an original retelling of the Samson and Delilah story set in Yosemite with Graphic the Valley.

Grin and Bear It: A Bear–Themed Variety ShowMar 21, Independent Publishing Resource CenterCelebrate the release of the audio zine Xtra Tuff #6.75: Report from Uyak Bay with its creators, Moe Bowstern and Erin Yanke with artwork by Alec Icky Dunn, and a trio of bear acts—in film, as improv, and in song—as well as dancing, singing, fitness tips, and trivia contest. The variety show is hosted by Moe Bowstern and features filmmaker Vanessa Renwick, improv comedian Brad Fortier, and musician El Demasiado and his One Man Band.

Floyd SklootMar 25, Broadway BooksSkloot reads from his newest works, Revertigo, a shifting, off–kilter memoir depicting his debilitating bouts of vertigo, and Close Reading, his 7th full–length collection of poetry that explores diverse expressions of love.